HEDY L. MCSPARRON, APPELLANT, v. JAMES G. MCSPARRON, RESPONDENT.
87 N.Y.2d 275, 662 N.E.2d 745, 639 N.Y.S.2d 265
December 7, 1995
3 No. 260 (1995 NY Int. 279)
Decided December 7, 1995
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This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication
in the New York Reports.
Joel R. Brandes, for Appellant.
Michael P. Friedman, for Respondent.
TITONE, J.:
In O'Brien v O'Brien (66 NY2d 576), this Court held that a
professional license acquired two months before the commencement of
the matrimonial action was marital property subject to equitable
distribution under Domestic Relations Law § 236B. Since that decision,
the courts of this State have struggled with the problems involved in
distributing the value of older professional licenses that have been
utilized in the development of their holders' careers. The primary
question presented by this appeal is whether a license that has been
exploited by the licensee to establish and maintain a career may be
deemed to have "merged" with the career and thereby lost its character
as a separate distributable asset.
I.
The parties were married in 1969. At the time of their marriage, both
parties had undergraduate college degrees and neither possessed any
appreciable assets. Defendant husband attended law school during the
first three years of the marriage, gaining admission to the bar in
1973. He thereafter practiced law and was earning an annual salary of
$97,000 as a Deputy First Assistant Attorney General when the parties
separated in mid- 1989.
Plaintiff wife acquired a master's degree in psychology during the
early years of her marriage. Over the next twelve to thirteen years,
she worked as a school psychologist, taking time off occasionally to
care for the couple's children or to attend graduate school. In 1984,
plaintiff began attending medical school. She graduated in 1988 and,
after completing a one-year internship, she received a license to
practice medicine in July of 1989. Plaintiff commenced this
matrimonial action on September 1, 1989, four months before the
completion of her second internship.
SNIPPETS:
HEDY L. MCSPARRON, APPELLANT, v. JAMES G. MCSPARRON, RESPONDENT.
Joel R. Brandes, for Appellant.
Michael P. Friedman, for Respondent.
In O'Brien v O'Brien (66 NY2d 576), this Court held that a professional license acquired two
The primary question presented by this appeal is whether a license that has been exploited by
At the time of their marriage, both parties had undergraduate college degrees and neither
He thereafter practiced law and was earning an annual salary of $97,000 as a Deputy First
Plaintiff wife acquired a master's degree in psychology during the early years of her
Defendant was ordered to pay child support and weekly maintenance and the marital property
In determining the total value of the marital estate, the court included the value of each
On defendant's appeal, the court held that defendant's law license should not have been
Several of plaintiff's arguments regarding the distribution of marital property were
Based on these and other perceived problems in the divorce judgment, the Appellate Division
We note that, contrary to plaintiff's contentions, there is also record support for the
We reach a different conclusion, however, with respect to the Appellate Division's
Yet another variant of the merger rule was applied by the Fourth Department in Finocchio v
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